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Youth News


After Thirty Years of Bragging on Kids, Larry Peck with AgYouth Still Highlighting the Good of Youth in Rural Oklahoma

Wed, 13 Mar 2019 19:52:06 CDT

After Thirty Years of Bragging on Kids, Larry Peck with AgYouth Still Highlighting the Good of Youth in Rural Oklahoma For 31 years, Ag Youth Magazine has been "bragging on kids," according to the publication's Publisher, Larry Peck, who has probably covered more livestock show arenas than anyone in the business and with more than three decades of following the show circuit knows better than anybody the amount of change that has occurred in the world of livestock exhibition. Just ahead of the Oklahoma Youth Expo, he sat down with Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays to talk about his experiences highlighting the achievements of our youth in agriculture. You can listen to their complete conversation by clicking or tapping the LISTEN BAR below at the bottom of the page.


No doubt, Peck has been around the block a few times, but the OYE (in its various forms) has been operating long before his time. Peck remembers the show just two years ago, celebrated its 100th anniversary, counting back to when the event was first established by the Sirloin Club of Oklahoma and then called the Oklahoma Fat Stock Show. Since that time and especially in relatively recent years, the show has grown tremendously. Peck credits the leadership behind the show for its success.


"Obviously, we've got to give a shout out to Mr. (Bob) Funk and Mr. (Jimmy) Harrel. They took it on themselves to put together a board and say 'hang on guys it's going to be a ride,'" he remarked. "Them guys and their teams have just been tremendous. It's run right."


With all its many facets, the show has grown to include much more than its humble beginnings, with the enthusiastic inclusion of a female show for all species, a blood drive, fitting contest and one of its newest features - the Skillathon among so many other events. But, Peck points out that as OYE has grown, so too have all the shows that take place across the state leading up to OYE.


"All the shows have really grown. They actually follow the OYE rules. Kids must be nominated for OYE and a lot of them just adopt those rules. It all makes it easier," he said, sharing his observations from what he says has been a very good spring for the show circuit. "The shows have all been really good other than the weather. It's been cold and dreary the whole time. But, the animals look good and there's a record number of kids out there from corner to corner of the state. At the district shows, the bonus sales went super good. It was just a tremendous spring."


While Peck has seen a lot of changes over the years in the show ring, he maintains that one thing has remained the same - the quality and caliber of kids that turn out each year. He says one doesn't have to look any further than OYE's scholarship program to find evidence of that fact.


"I sometimes take it for granted how good our kids are because I work with these kids," he said. "We just expect them to be good. We know they are and we're proud of them. We've got the best kids in the state. We have a true investment in kids here, but oh is that investment worth it."


Our Coverage of the 2019 Oklahoma Youth Expo is once again a service of ITC Great Plains, Your Energy Superhighway- learn more about this high voltage, transmission only utility and their commitment to the communities they serve which is the cornerstone of their business-click here for their website.


Reports will be heard daily on great radio stations that cover Oklahoma and that are a part of the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network- on the internet- our reports of the 2019 OYE can be found on the Blue Green Gazette page- available here. We will be adding pictures daily to our official 2019 OYE Album of Photos on FLICKR, found here.


For more information about the Oklahoma Youth Expo, click here for the home page of the OYE website.





   




   

Hear Larry Peck and Ron Hays review the 2019 show season leading up to the OYE.
right-click to download mp3

 

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